The Energy category had the “most influential” contribution to the variation of the aggregate index, 3.4 percentage points (pp), due to a rate of change of 18.5 percent in March (-5.2 percent in the previous month).
Meanwhile, Consumer and Intermediate goods made negative contributions of 2.9 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, against increases of 1.6 percent and 2.4 percent in February.
In the Manufacturing sector, the variation was -2.2 percent (2.7 percent in the previous month).
INE also reported that in the first quarter of this year, industrial production slowed year-on-year from 2.5 percent in the previous quarter to 2 percent in the first three months of this year.
The industrial production index registered a monthly increase of 3.7 percent in March (compared to -2.4 percent in February), and the Energy grouping contributed decisively to the monthly increase in the aggregate index (+26.6 percent in March, compared to -3.8 percent in February).